tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6446461178381374626.post5491130670310701135..comments2024-03-27T23:28:19.341-07:00Comments on Telecanter's Receding Rules: How Dangerous the Sea?Telecanterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07238356788092725244noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6446461178381374626.post-51707716373616044252011-05-10T11:56:22.604-07:002011-05-10T11:56:22.604-07:00Re the distance/approaching/escaping stuff, I wond...Re the distance/approaching/escaping stuff, I wonder if 9and30's reaction roll system could work here too: a growing mood of tension can potentially turn into an encounter.richardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13517340075234811323noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6446461178381374626.post-81171531071485954122011-05-10T11:28:13.989-07:002011-05-10T11:28:13.989-07:00Thanks, folks. I had seen A&A's lists but...Thanks, folks. I had seen A&A's lists but didn't incorporate them into my charts. I'll look again. Lot of stuff to digest richard, mostly I'm interested how to get some of that archetypal flavor while keeping an engaging experience at the table. I guess the most straightforward approach would be to speed up or slow down the "narrative time." In other words 10 days becalmed means you start speeding up until the wind rises or an encounter happens. But that undercuts the sense of tedium you mention. Of course I'm not sure I want to perfectly simulate tedium :)<br /><br />Some more thoughts:<br /><br />One thing realize is that I really don't like nested tables. So, for example, you roll for encounter-- get yes, then roll on ship, monster, or weather chart, then roll on the appropriate subchart. This makes it very hard for me to have an intuitive feel for how likely one of the nested results is. I suppose I could sit down and calculate all the probabilities.<br /><br />If I want to avoid this I need to either include all encounter types on one big chart (my categorizing nature doesn't really like this) or have multiple rolls, one each for each kind of encounter possible. Of course the probabilities would have to be lessened for each or you would triple your chance of something happening. But this would allow more granularity for things like: weather changes often but creature encounters are rare in this bit of ocean.<br /><br />Things I need to decide on: how often to check for wind change/weather,<br />how often to check for encounter.<br /><br />One thing that seems pretty apparent is that I should pump the encounter distance way up, maybe miles instead of yards.<br /><br />I was hoping someone who had had some experience with ocean gaming using the Expert book might share their experience with how deadly it was or wasn't and how it shaped travel in their world. No one with that experience?Telecanterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07238356788092725244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6446461178381374626.post-92121550610363030312011-05-10T02:35:14.238-07:002011-05-10T02:35:14.238-07:00Aeons and augauries' shallow and deep tables. ...Aeons and augauries' <a href="http://aeonsnaugauries.blogspot.com/2011/02/shore-approach.html" rel="nofollow">shallow</a> and <a href="http://aeonsnaugauries.blogspot.com/2011/02/sea-encounters-and-hazards.html" rel="nofollow">deep</a> tables. The main thing I remember about the distinction from my AMNH days is that the deep ocean is like a desert - most of the life and diversity hangs around the continental shelves, Finding Nemo style. In a naturalistic Med that wouldn't be an issue, the whole thing is "shallow," but it's something to bear in mind - a change in emphasis to rare megafauna and nothing else might be a sign you're away from safe harbors. In the age of sail and slavery sharks tend to trail ships hoping for cast offs, leading to mistaken ideas about how common and dangerous they are. Big Squid could discourage them.<br /><br />I don't know how rare Big Squid is supposed to be, but bringing home a trophy (or even sucker-scars) could be a quick way to fame. Superstitious sailors might want such a marked character - or your halo-wearer - aboard for good luck.<br /><br />Birds mean land or trouble. Or wrecks: picking off survivors, who might have tales of other seaborne hazards. Islands also tend to have clouds over them, and can therefore be detected past the horizon. <br /><br />Coastguards on the historical 12th c southern Med kept a 3 mile watch from shore and would send out galleys to do customs, passport and spy checks. Many harbor towns had the rule that foreign ships over a certain length (100-120') were engaging in war, since warships were galleys and galleys were long. Something to bear in mind if the PCs want to sign aboard a big ship to discourage the monsters.richardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13517340075234811323noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6446461178381374626.post-86847174378558020862011-05-10T00:32:56.320-07:002011-05-10T00:32:56.320-07:00Also, another DM might have ruled differently on t...<i>Also, another DM might have ruled differently on the poison killing such a large creature, but I thought it was smart, exciting, and the only way they would keep from getting TPKed, so I allowed it.</i><br /><br />maybe with killing such a monster you went overboard a bit (yeah, i know. sorry.), but i might have ruled being severely poisoned frightened the beast away.<br /><br />rewarding creative ideas is always a good idea.<br /><br /><i>I'm going to have to make my own sea encounter chart I guess, but how dangerous should it be to keep it challenging and yet not keep players from wanting to travel on it at all? </i><br /><br />not putting too many monsters with tpk-ability on it might help. ;)<br /><br />i find putting plothooks onto the chart can help. if there's stuff you can only find on the sea the players might be more inclined to go there. intelligent monsters (with an agenda), a message in a bottle, maybe a shipwreck. i am sure you can find a lot of ideas on the net.<br /><br /><i>Maybe I should have different encounters for shallow ocean/deep ocean, or telltale signs that trouble is about (flock of expectant seabirds or something).</i><br /><br />yes and yes. ;)<br /><br />ps: also all of what richard said. :)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6446461178381374626.post-86514391152218195712011-05-09T23:33:39.605-07:002011-05-09T23:33:39.605-07:00Uneventful sea travel IRL is boring (and for an ol...Uneventful sea travel IRL is boring (and for an old salt junkie like me that's definitely part of the flavour) but at a table that time is hand-waved in a sentence (well, the players will insist they're catching up on prep work and supplies will be dwindling). I would incline toward encounters spread a few days/weeks apart much of the time. Log entry: becalmed 10 days, fearsome sun has us all under tarpaulins, which is why we didn't see the ship til she was but half a mile away.<br /><br />There's nowhere to run but when visibility is good you can see for miles. I'd use this to build tension. Ship sighted near horizon: sometimes you see her, sometimes she's lost in the haze, but she seems to be sailing parallel with you. What is she? Will she sneak up during the night? Also giant monsters: that squid might be bearing a grudge, thinking about a rematch. It might shadow the ship for some time. Creepy if they can see it's right under them but not attacking... yet. Give 'em a chance to plan.<br /><br />Also I'd make most sea hazards environmental and keep the monsters rare but that's me. You've seen Mule Abides' and Zak's sea encounter tables, right? Did you see aeons & augauries'? (link when I'm not on the phone).richardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13517340075234811323noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6446461178381374626.post-31113933280816759832011-05-09T21:56:55.714-07:002011-05-09T21:56:55.714-07:00@Carter: Absolutely, it was everything I want my D...@Carter: Absolutely, it was everything I want my D&D to be. It's just that I realized with the ocean that 1) there are no signs you are near something more dangerous than you can handle, because everything looks the same, and 2) if something shows up you have no place to go, 3) especially if you have no wind.<br /><br />@Gregory: That's absolutely true. They might get some lucky reaction rolls. Although most of these beasties are animals, so you can't parley with them. <br /><br />Encounter distance might help, with something appearing from 40-240 yards away, or about 700 feet. But keep in mind you may not be able to control your own movement if you're becalmed.<br /><br />With wind they probably could have outrun the croc, but not the giant squid.<br /><br />Maybe I should have different encounters for shallow ocean/deep ocean, or telltale signs that trouble is about (flock of expectant seabirds or something).<br /><br />And in looking back over the Expert book (which I didn't have with me that night, just some copied charts) I realize I wasn't following rules as written. If I revise my charts it should be much less likely to encounter one of these giants.Telecanterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07238356788092725244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6446461178381374626.post-74484239917605535802011-05-09T20:36:11.747-07:002011-05-09T20:36:11.747-07:00Doesn't the monster appearing as an encounter ...Doesn't the monster appearing as an encounter simply mean that it appears at a randomly detemined encounter distance and then the party gets to do whatever they want about it or not? I.e., just because it showed up as a random encounter doesn't mean the battle music starts playing and it's fighting time, Final Fantasy style. They might simply see the thing at a distance and pass by, or turn to steer clear of it and avoid it - or it might react the same way to them. I would hazard that in the open ocean the odds of an encountered monster actually deciding to engage the party (or vice versa) are probably a bit lower than on land.Gregoryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13098410062702942618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6446461178381374626.post-1671468823353113692011-05-09T18:20:06.324-07:002011-05-09T18:20:06.324-07:00Sounds like even though they burned through a good...Sounds like even though they burned through a goodly number of potions, they mostly survived and had a couple of memorable encounters. It sounds like fun, high-stakes game play to me!<br /><br />I have yet do do any sea adventures with my current group, though they keep talking about seafaring as a possible future. . .Carter Soleshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01286436801953647693noreply@blogger.com